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El Firulete - a great read for serious tangueros

The internet seems infinite, just when you think you've found most of them a another great site turns up. Today I discovered El Firulete. Stories are good, well-researched and well-written - and interesting! I found an interview with Gabriela Elia, one of the judges with the Salon section of the recent Tango championship in BsAs very interesting ... for example "This year only young couples reached the finals. That’s wonderful, but they all danced the same way. It is not their fault, it is the style that is being awarded." ..."We should have been 10 feet from the dancers, and not to 60 feet. The salon tango is a reflection of the milonga, and as such it has to be appreciated form a close distance"..."There were too many people in each round, 11 couples dancing three tangos is too much".And Tango Notation for Step collection..."Unfortunately the good teaching of tango is underrated. It has to compete with the urge for instant gratification: to run before crawling, and also with the eye candy temptations that sexy and voluptuous bodies provoke when dancing a choreography for the pleasure of an audience."Anyone who knows anything about choreography will find this review interesting.. those who think tango shouldn't be choreographed should probably also read it because it explains why this is important for the preservation of tango's history.So when you feel like a bit of serious tango reading - check out this blog.

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Many years ago a clever IT person thought up the Sydneytango calendar, a place where people could find classes, milongas, special events and a forum to talk about issues. This was before Facebook and it became the goto for most Sydney tango dancers, and the place where out of towners could find out what was happening on the scene in the Sydney metropolitan area.

This calendar has been kept up to date assiduously until now - almost single-handedly by one dedicated tanguera, Sima Oertli. Sima has dedicated herself to keeping dancers informed about tango in Sydney and to organising and presenting events from Festivals to workshops with some of the world's very best tango dancers.
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dancers to world class musicians both locally and internationally and enriched the tango scene.
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This year's Milongueando in Buenos Aires in August is the 9th. An encuentro (meeting) rather than a Festival in the sense of great maestros and exotic performances. The organisers Susanna Miller and Maria Plazaola state on their website that "Everyone can dance milonguero-style tango. ...we teach students to enjoy the natural movement of the body and the dialogue that takes place in harmony with one's partner".
One of the teachers at this year's festival is Horacio Julian Prestamo. For those who love the milonguero-style of tango here is a fascinating interview - and a dance performance.

The tango world is shocked by the recent death on November 16 of popular maestro Julio Balmaceda at the very young age of 54.

Many Australian dancers will remember Julio's visits in 2013 for the Sydney Tango Festival with Corina de la Rosa and in 2015 for the Essence and Evolution Festival with Virginia Vasconi. Others will remember him as one of their teachers in Buenos Aires - for many he was a friend as much as an amazing dancer.

Julio was taught to tango by his father, the legendery Miguel Balmaceda, and for many years he accompanied and assisted him in tango practices. After his father’s death in 1991, Julio took over the classes attango schools in Buenos Aires: Canning, Grisel, El Parakultural, Almagro, and La galleria del tango.

Julio was known internationally and at home for his naturalness, quality and musicality that made his dance and his walk synonymous with tango.

Some of the highlights of his career are
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